Home - Tim Bunting

TIM BUNTING

KIWI YAMABUSHI

Kia ora Koutou, I'm Tim Bunting, The Kiwi Yamabushi. I am a practicing Dewa Sanzan Yamabushi Japanese mountain ascetic (What's a Yamabushi?). I have been living in Yamagata, Tohoku, north Japan, since 2010. Since 2016, I have trained as a yamabushi under Master Fumihiro Hoshino through Daishobo pilgrim's lodge on Haguro-san, and through Dewa Sanzan Jinja. If you want to find out more about how you too can train in the ways of Shugendo, check out Yamabushido.jp (tell them I sent you).

In my spare time I write stories about the overlooked side of Japan, namely up here in the Tohoku region. I write a daily blog, have a newsletter with over 1,000 subscribers, have a YouTube channel also with over 1,000 subscribers, and am on most socials as @kiwiyamabushi.

I am currently on a mission to summit and document all 100 Famous Mountains of Yamagata.

I am available for online consultation, public speaking in both English and Japanese, and I am able to guide you on The Dewa Sanzan mountains by working through Yamabushido.jp or DewaSanzan.com. As a Master Yamabushi and the creator of Dewasanzan.com, I believe I am the most knowledgable native English speaker on these three mountains.

MOUNTAINS OF YAMAGATA

Here are a few posts of my adventures climbing the 100 Famous Mountains of Yamagata. Read about the project here, or view all articles here.

ALL

DAILY YAMABUSHI

Here are some of my Daily Yamabushi posts. Get more here.

The unforgettable old men

Yesterday I was recording a radio show, Kiwi Radio with Yuka Kato, and Yuka told me this great analogy: There are four things that have a knack of rearing their ugly heads exactly when you forget about them: Earthquakes, fires, thunder and lightning, and the fourth one is my favourite: old men. Earthquakes and fires […]

women in red and white kimono standing in front of the temple

When consideration isn’t consideration

Here in Shonai, people often stick to one lane when they drive, knowing that up ahead the lanes merge. This is fine, except sometimes they do it a bit too early and you get one very long line of cars in a two-lane street. Now, this is ok for me, because I just go in […]

person riding bike making trek on thin air

Comparing yourself to others

You may have heard of the All Blacks, New Zealand's national rugby team. Even if you haven't, you've probably heard of something called sport. Well, the New Zealand All Blacks have the highest win percentage for any professional team in sport. 77%. That means they win more than three out of every four games. It […]